Combined satellite and terrestrial communication systems, such as Complementary Ground Component (CGC) or Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) systems, are known in the art. Such systems provide integrated satellite and terrestrial links to mobile platforms. An example of such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,463.
Multi-band or hybrid satellite systems are also known, in which links are provided to a mobile platform over different satellite systems operating in different frequency bands. An example of such a hybrid system is disclosed in WO 2004/28034 A1.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,606,266 discloses a data transmission system in which an airborne user terminal is able to communicate over either a first or a second data network, the second data network having more contiguous physical coverage than the first network. A proxy unit on the aircraft is configured to select routing via the first or second network based on a user condition, such as user preference, type of user session or travel path of the user.